The most intelligent ticket in town

May 13, 2008 04:09 PM

This evening marks the season finale of year two for the monthly Intelligence Squared debate series. Imported from England, IQ2US brings Oxford-style debate on a host of controversial issues to Manhattan's Upper East Side--an area of the country often sadly deprived of open discussion and disagreement. Last year The New York Times ran a profile of the man behind IQ2US, Robert Rosenkranz. The series is regularly sold out, and this evening's debate, on the harvesting of human organs, is now standby only.

The debates are recorded for NPR and broadcast on the Sundays following each event. DVDs are also made available for each debate, and last month's debate is now for sale. The resolution was "Islam is Dominated by Radicals." If you are looking for speaking points on the radicalization of Islam, I highly recommend it.

One of the interesting features of IQ2 is the ability of the audience to vote by remote control on the resolution, once before and again at the end of each debate. The breakdown of last month's debate, when announced, drew gasps from the audience. Before the debate, 46 percent of the audience agreed with the resolution that Islam is dominated by radicals, 32 percent disagreed, and 22 percent were undecided. After the debate, 73 percent agreed, 23 percent did not agree, and 4 percent were undecided. This was, unofficially, the greatest shift in any IQ2 poll, and it speaks to the persuasiveness of the argument that Islam is, indeed, dominated by radicals. A very interesting debate on a very important topic. You can purchase the DVD of the event here, and learn more about IQ2US here.